A Strange Sense of Freedom
by Just My Cup Of Tea
Summary: Reiner has shared many beds with Bertholdt over the years. From early childhood sleepovers to the forbidden closeness during the early stages of their romance, sleeping with Betholdt in the same bed is familiar and welcome. But. It does come with some drawbacks.


Modern AU Reibert sleepy cuddles. Will fit in within a universe from a longer fic I'll write if I ever get my life in order.

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><p>The problem is, Reiner's decided, is that Bertholdt is just <em>long<em>.

Honestly, "tall" really isn't the right word. Oh, he's that too - they don't eat frozen vegetables because they're all used as ice packs after Betholdt hits his head on the doorframes of their too small apartment.

But it's hard for someone to be tall lying down.

Reiner has shared many beds with Bertholdt over the years. From early childhood sleepovers to the forbidden closeness during the early stages of their romance, sleeping with Betholdt in the same bed is familiar and welcome.

But.

It does come with some drawbacks.

Reiner half heartedly attempts to reposition Bertholdt, whose knee is pressing uncomfortably into the back of Reiner's thigh muscle. The rest of Bertholdt is lying diagonally across the bed, and therefore Reiner as well.

Unsuccessful yet again, Reiner shoves his face into the pillow and groans. On the one hand, he's thrilled Betholdt is finally sleeping. For three nights in a row leading up to this he's woken up in the middle of the night to find Bertholdt still up, sitting at the card table they use as a kitchen table nursing his head in his hands and probably nursing some pretty bad thoughts as well.

They haven't exactly had the easiest time in life, but they've been through most of it together. But Reiner can't go through this with Bertholdt, can't get inside his head and beat the shit out of the demons that take root there. And as Bertholdt told him every night, he couldn't afford to stay up because he had work. He would have stayed up anyway, said fuck it, because his boyfriend is more important than his job, but he could usually get Bertholdt to at least lie down with him if he went back to bed, too. It was better than nothing.

And Reiner doesn't have the heart to wake Bertholdt up and move him, no matter how badly his leg was going to hurt in the morning.

At least Bertholdt is a restless sleeper. A brief amount of time goes by before Bertholdt makes a quiet humming noise in his sleep, curling and stretching until his leg isn't pressed into Reiner's and is instead draped over him.

Actually, pretty much all of Betholdt is draped over him.

Bertholdt is basically sleeping on top of Reiner at this point, snuggling down into him like he's a giant body pillow. Reiner can feel him breathing against the back of his neck and Bertholdt's long legs are tangled with his. Reiner sighs with fond exasperation and gently slides Bertholdt so he's more on his side and less on Reiner. He places a soft kiss against Bertholdt's forehead, and tries to get some sleep.

Bertholdt has been a restless and quite honestly poor sleeper for as long as Reiner has shared a bed with him. Reiner's personal theory is that it's because he's always been too big to fit in most of the beds he's slept in comfortably.

There are probably quite a few other reasons, but Reiner doesn't like to think about them and neither does Bertholdt.

But up until recent times, they've had to play Tetris with themselves in every other bed. Bertholdt's long limbs don't fit easily into most beds, and certainly not when he's sharing with Reiner.

It's why, when they were on their own, they made the decision to not stay in a dorm (there was really no way either of them would fit well onto those tiny twin beds alone, let alone _together_) and get an apartment. It's not much, considering they work for the school and are making up the difference between tuition and financial aid on their own, but it had a bedroom big enough to fit the California King sized bed Reiner had bought with what he'd been saving from the summer before their first year. It's slightly ridiculous - their bedroom is so small they basically have to be on the bed to be in the room - but at least Reiner can sleep easy knowing that Bertholdt is sleeping a little bit better.

They saved up for the rest of the furniture they have in the apartment - which, even after two years of scrimping and lay away, isn't a lot - but a bed was a necessity.

And yeah, usually a lot of the bed goes unused when they're sleeping, since they tend to stay close in their sleep - old habits die hard. But Reiner can't remember the last time he woke up in the middle of the night because one of them (usually Bertholdt, let's be honest) had rolled over and out of bed in their sleep, and that counts for something.

And it's little things like that, like not waking up at two in the morning because Bertholdt has stolen all the blankets (not that he doesn't still try, but there's a lot more blanket to go around) and being able to stretch out completely and not feel feet slide over the edge of the bed that count for a lot.

Their coffee table is literally a couple of cardboard boxes and they still wash plastic solo cups, but at least what's keeping them from getting enough sleep isn't their mattress.

Bertholdt shifts again in his sleep, curling into a tighter ball up against Reiner's side, as if he's cold. Reiner turns to him more fully, wrapping an arm around his back and tucking him against his chest. Bertholdt sighs and relaxes a bit, and Reiner drops his face so that his nose is pressed into Bertholdt's hair.

It's not just having a nice bed for once - it was having the opportunity to decide for themselves what they did and didn't want. They're pretty much doing everything on their own and Reiner isn't going to pretend like he hasn't woken up in a cold sweat thinking about how much responsibility the both of them have, but at the same time they're no longer depending on anybody but each other for anything.

They might fuck it up, but at least no one is fucking it up for them.

It's a strange sense of freedom, sure.

But it works for them, and honestly, everyone else can fuck off.

In the morning, when Bertholdt sleepily mentions they should probably do something with their day, Reiner just grins and pins him to the bed, because all of his favorite things to do are all currently located there.

And first up is the one with long legs and green eyes, who keeps Reiner up at night for so many different reasons, but will always be there to get him through the morning.


End file.
